If actions speak louder than words, then the actions of the American Civil Liberties Union and many of its allies these days are shouting from the rooftops: “We have no interest in what the American people want. Shut up and do what we say.”

One could hardly envision a better expose of the agenda of the left than the one they are currently presenting for the world to see in Texas. A group calling itself “Save Texas Marriage” is deceiving people into believing that a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would prohibit the creation or recognition of “any legal status identical or similar to marriage” would endanger any form of marriage. But as the writer of the amendment says, a judge who came to that conclusion would have to have had a “lobotomy” to read it that way. It’s a scare tactic, plain and simple.

Despite all the rhetoric about defending the Constitution, democracy, and the right to choose, the ACLU, Lambda Legal, and groups like “Save Texas Marriage” have demonstrated repeatedly that they have absolutely no desire for Americans to either choose or be heard.

State after state, time and again, where voters have a chance to vote on a law or constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, these groups and other supporters of same-sex “marriage” swoop in to try to muzzle the people with scare tactics or even lawsuits to stop the vote. Clearly, neither choice nor democracy is what such groups are interested in. Every media blitz they push or lawsuit they file trying to stop the people from voting on marriage reveals their motives more clearly than anything their detractors could do or say.

These radical groups want courts to redefine marriage, create a new meaning for family, and establish countless new “rights.” They want to impose their vision for America upon the vast majority who do not share that vision. And they don’t want the people to come between them and their favorite judges.

Opponents of marriage protection laws and amendments in numerous states have filed a barrage of lawsuits in fruitless attempts to achieve that goal. They do this precisely because they know same-sex “marriage” loses whenever a state puts it before the voters. They do it because they think they know better than the American people about what’s best for them. They don’t want Americans to be heard for the simple reason that Americans don’t agree with them.

But the genie is out of the bottle. In every instance, where votes have been allowed – from California to Missouri to Louisiana – voters have approved the laws or amendments overwhelmingly. Consistent with the history of our republic, voters peacefully make their voices heard at the ballot box, louder than any rally or public demonstration could, and dispel any notions that they want a novel redefinition of marriage that means anything and ultimately nothing. A line attributed to George Washington puts it aptly: “In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude.”

Americans know instinctively that redefining marriage does not redefine it as much as it destroys it. Unlike the groups attempting to stop amendment votes across the country, the destruction of marriage as mankind has understood it for centuries is not something Americans are anxious to see.

Groups such as the ACLU, Lambda Legal, and others cloak themselves in language about defending rights and freedom, but they openly brush aside their noble ideals and opt to illegitimately use the judiciary to attain their ends. Their actions reveal a primary philosophy: the ends justify the means. Apparently the cause is just too important to be left to the American people to decide. A judge will do.

No one would be pursuing marriage protection laws and constitutional amendments if such groups had refrained from using the courts to overrule the American people. But, because a sufficient number of courts have gone along, the people have no choice but to amend their constitutions in an attempt to stave off the attack. If the “nightmare” of the landslide adoptions of state constitutional amendments protecting marriage disturbs the left, they can blame themselves for pushing the first boulder over the edge.

ACLU Founder Roger Baldwin said, “So long as we have enough people willing to fight for their rights, we’ll be called a democracy.” Funny – that’s all the American people are doing when they oppose the efforts of groups like the ACLU to quash them.